Digital advertising, remarketing and affiliate marketing in the US: what works and which rules apply to a European seller

European companies often arrive in the US with excellent products and an advertising plan built for the GDPR. The American rules are different in shape. Remarketing to past visitors is mostly allowed by default, with a right to opt out that a growing number of states enforce. Affiliates and influencers must disclose that they are paid, and the advertiser answers for them. Fake reviews, including AI-written ones, are banned by a federal rule with civil penalties per violation.

The market you are advertising into

Online shopping is a large and still growing share of American retail. The Census Bureau estimates US retail e-commerce sales for the second quarter of 2026 at $340.2 billion, seasonally adjusted, or 17.1 percent of total retail sales, up 12.2 percent on a year earlier while total retail grew 6.7 percent. The next quarterly figures are due on 19 November 2026.

For a European seller this means two things. The audience is reachable online at a scale no single European market offers, and the competition for that audience is fierce: you bid against American brands with American budgets. Our experience is that European companies win with precise targeting, a clear story about origin and quality, and patience, while broad awareness campaigns burn money fast. If you are still choosing between selling direct, through a distributor or through a subsidiary, read our guide to US sales channels first; for low-budget tactics, see marketing a small business on a budget.

Which channels to start with

Start where intent is highest, usually search and remarketing, measure cost per acquisition in dollars, and only then widen. Localise everything: prices in dollars with sales tax added at checkout, US units, American English and US customer service hours. For selling through your own shop, our guide to Shopify in the US covers sales tax and customs.

Remarketing and state privacy laws

In Europe, remarketing cookies generally need prior consent. In the US the model for ordinary advertising is mostly opt-out: you may track and retarget, but consumers in states with privacy laws may tell you to stop, and you must honour that. Two examples matter to most of our clients.

California

The California Consumer Privacy Act applies to for-profit businesses doing business in California that meet at least one threshold: annual gross revenue of $26.625 million or more (the figure since 1 January 2025), buying, selling or sharing the personal information of 100,000 or more California residents or households, or deriving half their revenue from selling or sharing personal information. Consumers may opt out of the sale or sharing of their information for cross-context behavioural advertising, which is remarketing in legal language, and businesses must honour opt-out preference signals such as the Global Privacy Control sent by a browser.

Texas

The Texas Data Privacy and Security Act, in force since 1 July 2024, has no revenue threshold. It applies to anyone who does business in Texas or offers products consumed by Texans and processes personal data, unless the business is a small business as defined by the U.S. Small Business Administration. Consumers may opt out of targeted advertising, the sale of personal data and certain profiling. Even small businesses may not sell sensitive data without prior consent. Only the Texas Attorney General enforces the law, must give 30 days' written notice to cure, and can then seek civil penalties of up to $7,500 per violation.

Other states have passed their own laws with different thresholds, so map where your customers are. Practically: add a "Do not sell or share my personal information" or "Your privacy choices" link, configure your tag manager to respect browser opt-out signals, and keep your privacy policy in plain American English.

Children: the COPPA rule tightened in 2025

If any part of your website or app is directed to children under 13, or you know you collect data from them, the Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule applies, wherever your company sits. The Federal Trade Commission amended the rule with effect from 23 June 2025, and most businesses had until 22 April 2026 to comply. Among the changes, operators must obtain a separate verifiable parental consent before disclosing a child's personal information to third parties such as ad networks, and may not make access to the service conditional on that consent. For toys, games, children's clothing and education products, plan your advertising stack with this in mind: remarketing to children based on their data is, in practice, off the table without that consent.

Affiliates and influencers: disclosure and responsibility

The FTC's Endorsement Guides, revised in 2023, set the rules for anyone paid, in money, commission or free products, to talk about your product. The essentials from the FTC's own guidance:

• An affiliate must disclose the relationship clearly and conspicuously, close to the recommendation. The FTC gives "I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post" as an example. "Paid link" next to the link is acceptable; "affiliate link" or a bare "buy now" button is not clear enough.
• Platform disclosure tools alone are not necessarily sufficient. The FTC judges whether the disclosure is actually clear to viewers.
• The advertiser is responsible for what its network says on its behalf, even when an agency runs the programme. A reasonable programme trains affiliates on permitted claims and on disclosure, monitors what they publish and acts when problems appear. Pre-approval of posts is recommended, especially for short-lived formats such as stories.
• A creator outside the US, a British YouTuber for example, must follow the US rules when it is reasonably foreseeable that US consumers will see the content, on top of their own country's rules.

Write these duties into your affiliate agreement, including the right to end the contract for missing disclosures.

Reviews, AI and the fines behind them

Since 21 October 2024, the FTC's Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials (16 CFR Part 465) prohibits, among other things:

• writing, buying or selling fake reviews and testimonials, including, in the FTC's words, AI-generated fake reviews;
• offering incentives for reviews on condition that they are positive or negative (paying for reviews in itself is not banned);
• insider reviews from officers, managers or employees without clear disclosure of the relationship;
• suppressing reviews through intimidation or unfounded legal threats;
• buying or selling fake indicators of social media influence, such as bot followers or views.

The rule allows courts to impose civil penalties for knowing violations. The maximum for knowing violations of a trade regulation rule is $53,088 per violation, the 2025 level, which the FTC announced in September 2026 would remain unchanged for 2026. Each fake review can be a separate violation.

Generative AI is welcome as a tool, but it does not change the rules. When the FTC announced its Operation AI Comply enforcement sweep in September 2024, then Chair Lina Khan put it this way: "There is no AI exemption from the laws on the books." Claims about what your product does must be substantiated whether a person or a model wrote the ad. Our guide to US consumer protection law for sellers covers advertising claims more broadly.

Subscriptions after the click-to-cancel ruling

Many advertising funnels end in a subscription. In 2024 the FTC adopted a broad "click to cancel" amendment to its Negative Option Rule. On 8 July 2025 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit vacated it because the FTC had skipped a preliminary regulatory analysis the FTC Act requires, and on 12 February 2026 the FTC formally restored the rule's earlier text. The underlying federal statute for online subscriptions, the Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act, still applies: clearly disclose all material terms before collecting billing information, obtain express informed consent before charging, and provide simple mechanisms to stop recurring charges. State law can add requirements, so check the states where most of your subscribers live.

Paying affiliates and creators: the tax side

Commissions are business expenses for your US company. The paperwork depends on who you pay:

Collect the form before the first payment; a US payee who gives you no taxpayer number can trigger backup withholding. Royalties and licence fees for using a creator's content are a different income type from service fees, so keep the two apart in your contracts. If your own brand is the asset you are advertising, protect it first with a US trademark. And when your digital campaigns start producing qualified leads, meeting those buyers in person is the next step: our guide to US trade shows and business events explains how.